


A Glitch

by Transcribedsmokesignals



Category: A Discovery of Witches (TV), All Souls Trilogy - Deborah Harkness
Genre: F/M, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-12
Updated: 2019-02-12
Packaged: 2019-10-27 02:05:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 988
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17757731
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Transcribedsmokesignals/pseuds/Transcribedsmokesignals
Summary: Diana doesn’t stick the landing and Hamish’s warning (s1 x08) becomes more urgent.





	A Glitch

A river was the best analogy she could think of in the moment, and she didn’t have any focus to spare in the thick of the chaos. It was trying to sweep her feet out from under her, pulling and dragging her along. The three objects weighed heavily as anchors and she clutched them almost as fiercely as she clutched Matthew’s hand. Then all at once there was floor beneath her feet and she stumbled forward, catapulted by the inertia of time as it reluctantly released her. Her arm pulled taught against his grip and she fell two steps forward into a spin like a dancer, pivoting back towards him breathlessly. 

She immediately knew something wasn’t right and dropped the objects without thought. The book landed with a bang and the chess piece rolled beneath a trunk at the foot of the bed.  
“Matthew? Something went wrong, I can feel it. Are you all right?”  
Reflexively she reached out to him, glancing over his body to reassure herself that he was whole and well. She could feel his cool gaze moving over her, drawing her eyes to meet it. The coolness settled in her heart as a new dread blossomed through her. He was staring at her with an expression of dark suspicion.  
“Matthew?” She could hear the way her voice slid up in fear.  
“Madam, thou hast me at disadvantage,” he rumbled menacingly.  
Her mouth was suddenly full of cotton, but the words moved ahead of her own thoughts.  
“You don’t know me.” Her fingers clenched their grip around his biceps as if in denial. Here he was, flesh and bone in her grasp, yet suddenly time yawned between them. This was not her Matthew at all. Her knees started to buckle and she let go, suddenly needing to put distance between them. But before she could fall he moved with unnerving swiftness, catching her by the arms. His stare drilled into her and she watched him examining her with growing despair as no awareness illuminated his features.  
“What pray, is a witch doing in my house?” A slightly hysterical laugh burbled through her. The impulse dried up swiftly when he tipped her head back by weaving one hand into the hair at the base of her skull. The tenderness in the action, in the hands she knew so well, was gone and she swallowed tightly, more in grief than in fear.  
“Attempting an ill-fated seduction?” He said mockingly as his gaze flicked over her deshabille. He inhaled sharply, smelling himself on her and tracing the line of the faded bite mark on her neck with him thumb in bemusement. She shuddered, her body momentarily unable to distinguish between his touch and her own Matthew’s touch. The smell of cloves filled her nose.  
“Who are you?” He growled thunderously.  
Ah, but there was something familiar! She seized upon it, recognizing his bluff, his retreat to intimidation tactics. A puff of frustration burst from her lips as she forcibly pulled herself together.  
“Stop it.” She glared back at him and his eyes widened in astonishment as witchwind kicked up about them. He released her and stepped back.  
“This cannot be,” he murmured.  
“Impossible n’est pas francais,” she retorted, and shook her head, looking down at the glaem in her hands.  
He gaped at her and amusement flickered through her weakly. Perhaps she shouldn’t have thrown an old family motto back into his teeth, but there was no helping it now.  
“You would have told me-“ she bit off the words and stared at him in dismay. Would saying more tamper with their future? He would have told her, wouldn’t he? Vampires and their secrets! Dark covered the grey green of his iris and doubt tore through her. Hamish had tried to warn her, but it couldn’t be. Matthew _wouldn’t _endanger her by bringing her to his past self, his self who had despised witches. A shudder rippled down her spine and her hair blew in the wind.__  
“I need my Matthew,” she whispered with a fierce resolve and a surge of power rose in her. Her power, her need, her desire, it was all bound together. Magic was in the heart. She couldn’t be here alone; they were strangers to each other in this time! He had promised he would never let go. In fact, their fingers had been twined when the earth settled below her feet. She would find him. He couldn’t be far. He couldn’t.  
“You promised me.” She stalked towards him awash in glaem and somewhere deep down, was gratified to see wonder steal across his face. It wasn’t every day that predator became prey. Her hand raised and his moved up to meet it, raw shock taking over his expression as their fingers laced of their own accord.  
“Mon dieu,” he murmured. If she was not mistaken, there was yearning in him that hadn’t existed moments ago.  
She drew a deep breath and put her whole heart into her words,“From this moment–“  
“We will always be one.”  
Abruptly she was crushed against him, his lips whispering thanks against her hair.  
“Matthew?” Her voice shook as she clung to him in return, unable to restrain herself despite her fear.  
“Mon cœur, ma lionne, I thought I’d lost you. I was here, alone.”  
With a shiver and an effort, she untucked her head from its place below his jaw to look at him.  
“I thought you’d let go, but you didn’t. I stumbled. I went too far.”  
He nodded slowly, tracing her features lightly with one hand while still holding her tightly with the other.  
“You were with me,” he murmured wonderingly. “I’d believed it to be a dream and then lost the memory of it. Forgive me.”  
Diana shook her head and merely held him tighter. There was nothing to forgive. They were together and time itself could not stand in their way.  
“Matthew.”

**Author's Note:**

> Haven’t done this in ages, but I hope you enjoyed it!


End file.
